


A Merry Little Christmas

by Caedmon



Series: Advent [23]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Established Relationship, F/M, Slow Dancing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 09:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8974639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/pseuds/Caedmon
Summary: It's Christmas in Rose's timeline, and the Doctor decides to surprise her.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the TimePetalsPrompts weekly prompt for this week - _How does the TARDIS decorate for the winter season?_  
>  Also, hellostarlight20 and I made an agreement to each write a fic before the end of this year, based on a gif we saw of CE and BP slow dancing between takes on S1 of Doctor Who.
> 
> Day 23 of ['Advent'.](http://archiveofourown.org/series/596995)

“I have a surprise for you.”

Rose cocked an eyebrow at him. “A surprise for me?”

He nodded, sporting his brightest, daftest grin. “Yep. A surprise for you.”

“Where is it?” She closed the book she’d been reading and lay it beside her on the jump seat, then gave him an expectant, excited smile, swinging her trainer-clad feet. “Are you taking me somewhere special?”

“Rose Tyler!” he protested with an affronted look and twinkling eyes. “Everywhere I take you is special!”

She slid off the seat, bringing her feet to the grating with a giggle then took the two steps over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Everywhere you take me is special.”

“And impressive,” he added, fishing for compliments.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” She grinned up at him. “Nothin’ fancy about Cardiff.”

“Oi!” 

“And every time we go there, there’s some sort of trouble with one alien or another.”

“Not my fault aliens like Wales,” he muttered.

“And you take us there all the time!" She gasped dramatically. "It’s almost like _you’re_ the jeopardy friendly one in this relationship!”

“Oi! Not me! You are!”

Another giggle escaped her and, like before, she followed it up with a kiss to his daft old face. “I’m teasing, Doctor.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “I know.”

“So, what’s this surprise?”

“You’re going to love it,” he promised, then took her hand and tugged her away from the console. They headed down the corridor that led to their bedroom, Jack’s room, the galley, the library, and endless other rooms. She was a bit taken aback, having expected to be whisked away to some exotic location, but she’d learned very early in her relationship with the exasperating, endearing Time Lord to just go with the flow. 

The Doctor led her down corridors and through doorways until they got to the library, where he turned around and beamed at her. God, she loved that smile. 

He tilted his head towards the door. “Surprise is in here.”

Rose peered at him in mock suspicion for just a moment. He bounced on the balls of his feet with his hands behind his back, looking for all the world like a kid who’d just done something exceptionally clever. After a moment she gave an infinitesimal shake of her head and grinned. Silly Time Lord. 

“In here, is it?” she asked, mimicking his action and indicating the door.

He nodded, and she stepped forward to open it. Before her hand reached the doorknob, however, he stopped her. 

“Ah, ah, ah! Gotta close your eyes, Rose.”

“Now really, Doctor, is that -?”

“Close ‘em!” he demanded, still grinning.

She let out a half-exasperated sigh and closed her eyes as requested. Just a moment later, she felt him move up behind her and put his hands over her eyes.

“I wasn’t peeking!”

“Just makin’ sure, me.”

She heard the doorknob turn and felt the breeze of the door swinging away from her. The Doctor, hands still over her eyes, shepherded her into the library with his body, and she caught a whiff of something. Pine? Cedar?

“Can I peek now?”

“Not yet. Almost.” 

He guided her a little farther into the room, then stopped her. “Alright, you ready?”

Rose could hear the smile in his voice, and it made her smile, too. “I’m ready.”

He dropped his hands and she opened her eyes. 

The library barely looked like itself anymore. Every inch was tastefully, brightly decorated in shades of red and green. There was a huge wreath over the mantel, ornamented with a large red bow and festive baubles that matched the room. The mantel was decorated with evergreen garland draped across it, a red bow in each corner. Like the wreath, the garland was covered in red and green baubles and twinkled with white lights. Festive decorations stood on the mantel, including a nutcracker soldier and an angel, dressed in gold. 

A tall tree stood in the corner, decked out with white and red lights with the same baubles that decorated the mantel and wreath. Below the tree were an assortment of wrapped gifts: from where she stood she could see her name on one. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get a word out there was the sound of a small whistle, and Rose was charmed into laughter when a little train came out from behind the packages and circled the tree.

Hands that had just been covering her eyes slid around her waist and pulled her backwards against a strong, sturdy chest. It was habit by now to melt into his arms, and she did. The Doctor lowered his head to her neck, planting soft kisses there, nosing her hoodie a little out of the way to free up more skin for him to nibble. When Rose sucked in a breath from his teasing, she felt him smile and he brought his chin to rest on her shoulder. She lay her head a little to the side so that her cheek was pressed against his, the tips of her fingers tracing the backs of his hands on her belly, still taking in the room and various details that she’d missed on first glance: like the fact that the TARDIS had draped throws and pillows in Christmas colors over the furniture. 

“Doctor,” she marveled. “What on Earth -?”

"Do you like it?" he cut her off.

"It's...it's _brilliant!_ Gorgeous! But...why?"

“It’s Christmas time in your timeline, Rose. In our timeline.”

She was still a bit in shock. “So?”

“So I wanted you to be able to celebrate. I wanted to do the human thing for once.”

“You did all of this...for me?”

“ _We_ did it,” he corrected her, then scowled a little bit when the TARDIS made a buzzing sound. “The TARDIS did most of it, but Jack and I helped.”

Rose laughed, delighted. “When is Christmas?”

“Two weeks,” he answered in a low voice. He’d started nuzzling her ear again and Rose shivered. “Figured that would give you time to enjoy the holiday.”

She spun around, throwing her arms around her neck, intending to hug him. As soon as she released her tight grip, the TARDIS began playing a soft, slow Christmas song. Both she and the Doctor laughed, and he pulled one of her hands up to his chest, holding it there, rocking her gently on her feet. 

“Is this the rest of my surprise?”

He let go of her hand long enough to brush a tendril of hair out of her eyes and tuck it behind her ear, then went back to swaying her. In a quiet voice, he answered. “Nah. Think she’s egging us on.”

“Think so,” Rose agreed with a smile.

_Have yourself a merry little Christmas_  
_Let your heart be light…_

Neither said anything for a while, Rose just enjoyed the soft smile on the Doctor’s face and returned it with her own. He held her close, their bodies pressed lightly against each other, and she was sure that there had never been a man (or Time Lord) who was any more wonderful than the one dancing with her right then: the one she loved, the one who loved her. Content, she lay her head on his chest, over his right heart, and felt the light thud of it against her cheek. He pressed his lips to her hair and continued to sway her gently. 

“I have another surprise for you,” he said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

“I can’t imagine anything better than this.”

“We’re going to spend Christmas with your mother.”

Rose lifted her head from his chest and leaned back to look at him with wide eyes. “You’re willingly going to put yourself through that?” 

“For you, Rose Tyler, I’d endure a lot more than two days of your mother’s complaints about me.”

She brought one of her hands up to the back of his head and let her finger trace the shell of his ear, down the line of his jaw. He shuddered a little at the light contact the way he always did, the way she knew he would, and her tongue came out to the corner of her mouth when she smiled. He leaned down to catch it. 

_Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow_  
_So hang a shining star upon the highest bow_

“I love you,” she said when he broke the kiss so that she could breathe. 

“I love you, too. Merry Christmas, Rose.”

“Merry Christmas, Doctor.”

_And have yourself a merry little Christmas now…_


End file.
